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218 El Cinematógrafo Mágico: Kenneth Anger Y La Contracultura Satanista De Los Años

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218 El Cinematógrafo Mágico: Kenneth Anger Y La Contracultura Satanista De Los Años 218 El cinematógrafo mágico: Kenneth Anger y la contracultura satanista de los años ‘60 en Estados Unidos Por Ana Laura Bochicchio* Resumen: Kenneth Anger es uno de los padres del cine experimental norteamericano de la generación de la década de 1960 al mismo tiempo que se ha conformado como una gran influencia posterior para reconocidos directores y entre producciones audiovisuales populares como el videoclip musical. Desde una visión sumamente subjetiva del relato cinematográfico y tratando temáticas polémicas para el periodo, tales como el homoerotismo, el ocultismo y el racismo, este director tuvo un rol fundamental entre el círculo de la contracultura satanista de Estados Unidos a partir de la década de 1960. Este artículo pretende comprender la producción de Anger en el contexto especifico de realización tanto artístico como social y, al mismo tiempo, analizar la forma en la que sus concepciones sobre la magia se materializaron formalmente en sus cortometrajes de temática satanista: Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954-1966), Invocation of my Demon Brother (1969) y Lucifer Rising (1970). Palabras clave: Kenneth Anger, cine experimental, satanismo, contracultura, Estados Unidos. O cinematógrafo mágico: Kenneth Anger e contracultura satanista dos anos ‘60 nos Estados Unidos Resumo: Kenneth Anger é um dos “país” do cinema experimental norte- americano da geração dos anos 1960, ao mesmo tempo em que se estabeleceu como uma grande influência para diretores renomados e entre produções audiovisuais populares, como o videoclipe. A partir de uma visão altamente subjetiva da narrativa cinematográfica e tratando de temas controversos para o período como o homoerotismo, o ocultismo e o racismo, este diretor desempenhou um papel fundamental no círculo da contracultura satânica nos Estados Unidos, a partir da década de 1960. Este artigo tem como objetivo entender a produção de Anger no contexto específico da realização artística e social e, ao mesmo tempo, analisar a maneira como suas concepções de magia foram formalmente materializadas em seus curtas-metragens de temática satanista: Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954-1966), Invocation of my Demon Brother (1969) e Lucifer Rising (1970). Palavras-chave: Kenneth Anger, cinema experimental, satanismo, contracultura, Estados Unidos. 219 Film Director as Magician: Kenneth Anger and the Satanist Counterculture of the 1960s in the United States Abstract: Kenneth Anger, one of the fore-fathers of the American experimental cinema of the 1960s, has become enormously influential among contemporary directors as well as in terms of popular audiovisual productions such as the music video. Focusing on controversial themes for the period, such as homoeroticism, occultism and racism from an extremely subjective filming point of view Anger played a fundamental role within the satanic counterculture circles of the United States in the 1960s. This article examines Anger’s production within its artistic and social context to understand the way in which his conceptualization of magic materialized in his short films on the topic of Satanism: Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954-1966), Invocation of my Demon Brother (1969), and Lucifer Rising (1970). Key words: Kenneth Anger, experimental cinema, satanism, counterculture, United States. Fecha de recepción: 14/05/2020 Fecha de aceptación: 10/09/2020 Introducción El 3 de febrero de 1927 nació en Santa Mónica, California, Kenneth Wilbur Anglemeyer, conocido como Kenneth Anger. Si bien su filmografía es muy extensa, aquí se analizará principalmente su rol dentro del círculo satanista de los años 60. Para ello nos centraremos en tres de sus principales cortometrajes sobre magia negra del periodo: Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (Kenneth Anger, 1954-1966), Invocation of my Demon Brother (Kenneth Anger, 1969) y Lucifer Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1970). Si bien Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1964) también puede considerarse un trabajo con contenido satánico, ha sido excluido de este análisis porque no representa explícitamente un ritual mágico, como sí lo hacen los otros tres. 220 El principal interés de este artículo se concentra en contextualizar la producción satanista de Anger. Si bien su cine pertenece a la tradición norteamericana denominada cine personal, los temas por él retratados cumplieron una funcionalidad concreta entre determinado círculo dentro de la cultura underground sesentista norteamericana. A modo de hipótesis puede sostenerse que, si bien Kenneth Anger realizó una producción invadida por su personalidad tanto en lo formal como en lo temático, la misma tiene relación con su contexto y la coyuntura de época. De este modo, es posible poner en interrelación tanto la cuestión personal como la social, específicamente la de la contracultura a la que perteneció este director durante el periodo aquí analizado. Por eso mismo resulta necesario contextualizar su producción en relación con las corrientes artísticas en las que se inscribió tanto como entender los valores esenciales del círculo al que pertenecía. En primer lugar, Anger es heredero de las denominadas “neovanguardias”, surgidas luego de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en Estados Unidos como consecuencia de la gran migración de artistas europeos. Estas neovanguardias, comprometidas tanto política como moralmente, buscaban ejercer la provocación social y política, retomando y resignificando algunos elementos de las vanguardias de principios del siglo XX. Particularmente, Anger fue influenciado por los artistas surrealistas, tales como Luis Buñuel, Jean Cocteau y Salvador Dalí. Pero a diferencia del surrealismo clásico, es el ritual y el mito lo que reemplaza a la expresión imaginante que es el sueño en el caso de los surrealistas estrictos (Sitney, 2002: 1099). Esta transición se dio en Estados Unidos dando paso al cine personal, consolidado por los trabajos de Stan Brakhage y Marie Menken en la década de 1950. Este cine suele caracterizarse por su abstracción, su lirismo y la falta de un argumento lineal. En sus Notas sobre el Nuevo Cine Americano, Jonas Mekas1 se refiere tanto a Marie Menken, 1 Director lituano migrado a Estados Unidos en 1949, considerado uno de los principales exponentes del cine experimental de posguerra. 221 Robert Breer, Stan Brakhage y Kenneth Anger como poetas experimentales “cuyos trabajos me hacen ver al mundo y a mí mismo de un modo nuevo, y la belleza de ello me conduce al éxtasis” (Mekas, 2016: 61).2 Este cine personal pretendía establecerse en contra de los principios y modelos del cine comercial-industrial, motivando la libertad artística de los cineastas independientes, quienes para lograrlo buscaban recurrir al ámbito autobiográfico (Quendler, 2017: 152). Tal movimiento supone que el autor es el protagonista último del trabajo artístico, formando un tipo de realización cinematográfica sumamente subjetiva, lo cual modificaría el proceso fílmico dándole un carácter autónomo. Jonas Mekas define a esta corriente experimental como un cine privado que conforma una verdadera creación y experimentación personal, la cual constituye una experiencia artística sumamente profunda en la que las imágenes registradas por la cámara —una cara, un paisaje, una luz— son modificadas por el ojo del director para convertirse en algo al servicio de su visión personal (Mekas, 2016: 42). Kenneth Anger es uno de los directores más destacados dentro el cine personal estadounidense. En su filmografía cada imagen busca mostrar el modo en que él, como artista, entiende al mundo que lo rodea, con la pretensión de comunicar su interior al espectador. A nivel formal, Anger fue un gran innovador que conjugó un conjunto de elementos propios del lenguaje audiovisual para lograr representar de manera muy lograda un ritual y, sobre todo, el efecto mágico y onírico generado por el mismo. La narrativa no lineal, el montaje acelerado sobre música y el found footage son algunos de los elementos técnicos que le permiten generar tal efecto. 2 “Their work makes me see the world and myself in a new way, and the beauty of it sends me into ecstasy”. 222 El cine de Anger al mismo tiempo que parte de los intereses y preocupaciones más íntimas de su ser, posee también fuertes elementos de provocación y crítica político-social. En efecto, su realización estaba inserta en un contexto determinado y poseía intenciones políticas concretas, las cuales se relacionan directamente con los polémicos temas retratados por Anger. Tomando como base el concepto de discurso social de Marc Angenot, quien sugiere que toda práctica discursiva es un hecho social y, por lo tanto, un hecho histórico, es posible ver en todo lo que se difunde en una sociedad, “dispositivos que funcionan independientemente de los usos que cada individuo les atribuye […] y que están dotados de un poder social en virtud del cual se imponen a una colectividad” (Angenot, 2010: 15). Así, es posible entender a la producción cinematográfica de Kenneth Anger como un producto forjado por su época ya que incluso la oposición suele expresarse en los términos hegemónicos, queriendo mantenerse al margen, pero no pudiendo salir de la imposición de la hegemonía. Este artículo trata, pues, de “extrapolar de esas «manifestaciones individuales» aquello que puede ser funcional en las «relaciones sociales»” (Angenot, 2010: 23). De todos modos, el límite de lo decible implica que exista una contracara que es todo lo indecible, lo tabú. Entre ambos opuestos es posible ubicar el arte de Anger. En el límite porque siendo producto de su sociedad no puede dejar de expresarse
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